UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – A program-record 131 Penn State student-athletes earned Academic All-Big Ten honors for Penn State’s fall programs. The 131 honorees are the most in Penn State’s fall history, topping the 117 selections in the fall of 2017. Victoria Vanriele (women’s cross country), Jonathan Sutherland (football), Kerry Abello (women’s soccer), Sam Coffey (women’s soccer), Olivia Damico (women’s soccer) and Payton Sewall (men’s cross country) all had perfect 4.0 GPAs.

Among those on the list of fall Academic All-Big Ten honorees is senior Kerry Abello from the women’s soccer program. Abello is a two-time CoSIDA Women’s Soccer Academic All-American of the Year, three-time first-team CoSIDA Academic All-America and the CoSIDA Women’s Academic All-American of the Year in 2020-21. Women’s soccer’s Sam Coffey and men’s soccer’s Pierre Reedy also earned CoSIDA Academic All-America accolades this fall. In total, Penn State has earned 216 Academic All-America honors in program history.

The Nittany Lions' fall teams were led overall by football with 38 honorees. On the women's side, women’s soccer had 20 honorees earn Academic All-Big Ten plaudits.

Team by Team Honorees

• Men’s Cross Country – 11
• Women’s Cross Country – 14
• Field Hockey – 19
• Football – 38
• Men’s Soccer – 19
• Women’s Soccer – 20
• Women’s Volleyball – 10

In 2020-21, the Penn State athletic department finished with 446 Academic All-Big Ten selections. The latest 131 fall honorees bring Penn State’s total academic honorees to 7,530 since 1991-92.

Also in 2020-21, Penn State set a program record with 185 Big Ten Distinguished Scholar awards (3.7 GPA or higher).